Just days after Ozzy Osbourne’s death on Tuesday (July 22nd), Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi spoke to BBC Midlands about his late bandmate and how he is coping with the news of his passing.
“It’s been difficult, because it’s just a shock, really,” Iommi said. “I haven’t been able to get myself organized properly since hearing this. It’s been really strange.”
He continued, saying that Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler is also struggling with the loss: “He’s much the same. You just can’t pull yourself together. It really has affected us bad.”
When the interviewer noted that Iommi has lost a friend, the guitarist said: “Yes. And that is devastating. I find it difficult at the moment to really accept that. I still think he’s there. I still go to text him and stuff, [but] he’s not there anymore. It’s really weird. Really weird. And I think that’s gonna take a long time. ‘Cause it’s like losing a brother.”
Responding to the question about what he thinks a fitting tribute would be to Osbourne, Iommi replied: “I don’t know. You know, you could say a statue or a figure. But I think also the band should have something like that. ‘Cause we’ve all been a team, and we’re [all] gonna go at some point. But I think that’d be the thing — probably a statue. I can’t think what else. I think he’d be happy that everybody remembers him and everybody loves him and everybody’s come out like they have.”
In a separate interview with ITV News, Iommi said “it was a shock” to learn that Osbourne had died.
“I mean, when I heard [on Tuesday], it couldn’t sink in,” he explained. “I thought, ‘It can’t be.’ I only had a text from him the day before. It just seemed unreal, surreal. And it really didn’t sink in. And in the night I started thinking about it: ‘God, am I dreaming all this?’
“But as I said before, he’s not looked well through the rehearsals [for Black Sabbath’s farewell performance at ‘Back To The Beginning’]. And I think he really just held out to do that show. I really feel, and me and Geezer were talking about it last night, that we think he held out to do it, and just after that, he’s done it and said goodbye to the fans. And that was the end of it, really.”
